Vial-bottoming machine



Sgpt. 15, 1925. 1,554,08

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Sept. 15;,1925

B. T. HEADLEY ET AL VIAL BOTTOMING MACHINE Filed Nov; 15, 1919 16 Shts-Shet 2 Lilli- 1,554,088 B. T. HEADLEY ET AL VIAL BOTTOMING MACHINE 16 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Nov. 15,1919

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1,554,088 B. T. HEADLEY ET AL VIAL BOTTOMING MACHINE Filed Nov- 15, 1919 16.Sheets-Sheet 5 WITNESS INVENTORS d 7 Sept. 15, 19.25.

B. T. HEADLEY ET AL VIAL BOTTOMING MACHINE 16 Sh ets-Sheet 16 Filed Nov. 15, 1919 WITNESS Patented Sept. 15, 1925.

UNITED STATES BENJAMIN '1. HEADLEY, PARKE H. THOMPSON, AND

'VILLE, NEW JERSEY, A SSIGNORS T0 WHITALL-TATUM COMPANY, OF MILLVILL-E,

NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY VIAL BOTTOMING MACHINE.

Application filed November 15, 1919. Serial No. 338,179.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BENJAMIN T. HEAD- LEY, PARKE H. THOMPSON, and DAVID IRVIN DU BOIS, all citizens of the United States, and residing at Millville, in the county of Cumberland and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Vial-Bottoming Machines, of, which the following is a full, clear, .and exact description.

This invention relates to an improvement in vial bottoming machines, and is designed to provide anefficient and simple automatic machine'for rapidly bottoming vials.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a machine having an endless carrier which is moved step by stepto successively bring the different blank supports with their blanks thereon to a plurality of heating stations at which the blanks are heated. The blanks are first brought to a heating station at which the blanks are partially heated, and are then successively moved to different heating stations whereby they are additionally and gradually heated to the proper temperature, after which they are moved to the blank separating and bottoming station or stations. By the provision of a plurality of heating stations, we are enabled to construct a machine in which the output is limited only by the time required for bottoming, as the mechanism is so arranged that immediately after one blank has been bottomed it is moved away from the bottoming mechanism and the next blank which has been heated to the proper temperature is immediately shifted to the bottoming station and is acted upon by the mechanism.

A further object of our, invention is to provide a compound driving mechanism for a vial necking machine and a vial bottoming machine which is arranged to actuate the two machlnes 1n timed relation to each other, together with suitable feeding and transfer mechanism for feeding the necked blanks to the bottoming machine.

Another object of our invention is to provide suitable clutch devices in connection with the driving mechanism, so arranged that either of the two machines can readily be connected or disconnected from the driving mechanism.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bottoming machine which may be fed from any suitable type of feed device.

The precise nature of our invention, will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, which will now be described, it being premised, however, that various changes may be made in the details of construction, and the general arrangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention, as defined in the appended claims. In the drawings- Figure 1 is a plan view of one form of machine built in accordance with our invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the machine shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan View of the driving mechanism;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line IV1V of Figure 1, showing a portion of the machine;

Figure 5 is a detailed sectional view illus- -trating the worm driving mechanism on one end of the machine;

1 Figure 6 is a section View on the line VI-VI of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a side elevation of the transferring mechanism for transferring the blanks to the bottoming machine, and in which the blank supporting member has been moved into engagement with the blank;

Figure 8 is a similar View, in which the blank has been moved to a point above one of the supports on the endless carrier;

Figure 9 is a View similar to Figure 8, in which the supporting member has been moved away from the blank and the blank deposited on the less carrier Figure 10 is a side elevation of the transfer mechanism;

blank support on the end- DAVID IRVFN DU 3018, OF MILL- Figures 11 and 12 are sectional views on the lines XI XI and XIL-XII, respectively, of Figure 10;

a Figure 13 is a longitudinal sectional View of one end of the bottoming machine show ing feeding mechanism for feeding blanks from a vial necking machine or other suit able source to a point where they-are en the bottoming machine;

v other belt.

Figure 14 is a plan view of a form of driving mechanism for connecting the bottoming machine to a necking machine;

Figures 15 and 16 are views largely diagrammatic illustrating the steps of separating and bottoming the blank;

Figure 17 is a detail sectional view of the bottoming device;

Figure 18 is adiagrammatic plan view of a preferred form of our invention;

Figure 19 is a side elevation of Figure 15;

Figure 20 is an enlarged detail view of the extending, separating and bottom operations;

Figure 21 is a side view of one end of the bottoming machine having a modified formof feeding device;

Figure 22 is alongitudinal sectional view of the mechanism disclosed in Figure 21;

Figure 23 is a perspective view of the modified or hopper form of feed device;

Figure 24 is a transverse sectional View .on the line XXIIIXXII I of Figure 21;

Figure 25 is a side elevation of a necked blank of the type which may be-fed to the bottoming machine, and

Figure 26 is a view corresponding to Figure 25 of a straight blank for wide-mouthed vials.

In the drawings, the reference character 2 designates the frame of the machine, and rotatably, supported in suitable bearings mounted on the frame 2 are shafts 3 and 4, which carry sprocket wheels 5 and 6 respectively. There is provided an endless carrier 7, built up of two parallel endless link belts, each of which engages one "of the sprocket wheels 5 on the shaft 3 and one of the sprocket wheels 6 on the shaft 4. Connected to each of the linkbelts 7 are a plurality of blank carriers 8, the blank carriers on one belt being in transverse alignment with the blank carriers on the These belts are provided with suitable rollers 9 which engage tracks 10 carried by the frame 2 (see Figures 3 and 4) and extending from the sprocket wheels 6 to the sprocket wheels 5 for supporting the link belts 7 in a horizontal plane from the centering station to a point slightly beyond the finishing station. In actual practice we may provide idler sprockets, adjustably attached to the side frame 2, for taking up the slack in the chains. These sprockets may be similar in construction and operation to the sprockets illustrated in- Figure 13 for the chain 106, and are there.- fore not illustrated in detail.

Rotatably mounted in suitable bearings in each of the blank supports 8, are rotating rollers 11 and 12, the spindles of which extend laterally from the supports and are These worm wheels 13 and 14 for the rollers of the supports at one side of the machine are in engagement with a worm 15, while the worm wheels for the supportson the other side of the machine are in engagement with a similar worm 15. These worms 15 and 15 may be journaled' in suitable center bearings such as shown at 16 in Figure 5 and Figure 1, which bearings are adjustable in suitable brackets connected to the frame of the machine.

There is a main driving shaft 17 having a pulley 18 thereon, which'may be driven bymeans of a belt (not shown) from any suitable source of power. Connected to the shaft 17 is a pinion 19 which drives a gear wheel 20 on the shaft 21, and operatively connecting the shaft 21 and the shaft 3 is a Geneva gear 22 for intermittently rotating the shaft 3. On each end of the shaft 21 is a spiral gear 23, the one at one'end .meshing with a spiral gear 24, while the one at the other end meshes with a spiral gear 24, carried respectively, by longitudinal cam shafts 25 and 25. These cam shafts 25' and 25 are journaled in suitable bearings 26 on the frame of the machine, and are provided with thrust ballbearings 27 and 27- to reduce friction. The shaft 21 need not be provided with thrust ball bearings as the spiral gears 23 on the ends thereof produce equal and opposite forces. Connected to the shaft 25 is a second spiral gear 28, meshing with a spiral gear 29 on a transverse shaft 30, journaled in suitable bearings on the frame, of the machine, and also provided with a thrust ball bearing 31.

The front end of each of the worms 15 and 15is provided with a bevel gear wheel 32. Each of these gear wheels is in mesh with a gear wheel 33 and connected to each gear wheel 33 is a pinion 34. The gear wheels 33 and the pinions 34 are rotatably mounted "on stub shafts 35, each of which is mounted in the bracket having the bearing 16 in the front end of the worm shafts 15 and 15*. Mounted on the shaft 30 at each side of the maehine, and adjustable about the axis thereof, is aforked bearing member 36, and connected to the shaft 30 between the forked arms of the bearing member 36 is a gear wheel 37. Each-of the gear wheels 37 meshes with accelerating gears 38 rotatably mounted on. a pin 39 in' the bearing member 36, and one of said ac- 'ce1erating gears meshes with the pinion 34,

so that the worms 1 5 and 15 are driven by means of the shaft 30 through the above described connections. The bearing members screw 41 adjustably securing the bearing 36 to the frame 2. By this arrangement the accelerating gears 38 can be properly engaged with the teeth of the pinions 34;. The shaft 17 is continuously driven from the source of power, and in turn continuously rotates the shaft 21, which in turn operates the shaft 3- step by step by means of the Geneva gear before described, to move the blank supports to the different successive stations at which the blanks are operated on as hereinafter described. As the worms 15 and 15 are connected to the shafts and by means of the accelerating gearing heretofore described, the worms will be continuously driven and by means of the worm wheels 13 and 14 will rotate the rollers 11 and 12 for the blank supports 8, so that the blanks will be continuously rotated while at the different stations. Each blank is first fed to a station A (see Fig. 2), from which it is transferred by a suitable transfer mechanism, to be hereinafter described.

, to the station B. The carrier is then moved to bring the blank to the station C, at which point the blank is moved to a central position with relation to the blank supports onv the two link belts. After the blank has been moved to its central position, the carrier is again moved another step to bring the support with the blank thereon to the station D, at which point the blank is in itially heated by suitable burners hereinafter more fully described, and which may be of any approved type and extending up from below as well as from above, between the supports on the two chains. is then moved to station D at which point it is still further heated by suitable burners and is then moved step by step to the stations D D and D at which stations the further heating to proper operating temperatures takes place. By the time the blank is ready to leave station D it has been heated to the proper point for bottoming, and is moved from there to the station E, at which point the ends of the blank are pulled laterally to separate the blank, and after such separation, a bottom-forming device is moved up between the two portions and afterwards the portions are moved toward the bottoming device. After the portions have been bottomed they are moved to the station F from which they are re- I moved from the supports and fed into a suitable chute.

The mechanism for transferring the blanks from the station A to the station B may comprise a lever 42 pivoted at 43 to a bracket 44 on the frame 20f the machine. This lever 42 has an extension 45 which is connected to a lever 46 by means of a link 17. The lever 46 is carried by a pin 48 mounted in hearings on the frame of the machine. Connected to the shaft 30 adjacent the lever 46, is a cam 49 having a groove 50 The blank therein for the reception of a roller 46 on the lever 46, this mechanism being arranged to shift the lever 42 from the position sho n inFigure 7 to the position shown in Figure 8. Pivotally mounted on the pin 43 and at the side of the lever 42 is a second lever 51 located between the stop pins 52 on the lever 42. Slidably mounted in one end of this lever 51, is a stem 53, having connected to the upper end thereof a V block 54. The stem 53 is held in position in the slotted end of the lever 51 by means of plates 55, which are connected to the lever 51, and connected to the stem 53 and extending through a slot in one of the plates 55 is a roller 56. This roller 56 also extends into a cam slot 57 in the lever 42. The lower end of the lever 51 is provided with a segmental friction strip 58, which is engaged on each side thereof by leather-faced friction strips 59 supported on the bracket 44:. The bracket 44 is forked as clearly shown in Figure 11, and each fork thereof is provided with a plurality of hollow bosses 60, and openings 70. Threaded into each of the plates 59 are three tap screws 71. extending through the openings 70, while short pins 72 also connected to the plates extend into the bosses 60. Springs 61 are provided within the recesses in the bosses 60, and at one end engage the plates 59, while at the other end they engage followers 62 adjustable by means of set screws 63 mounted in screw plugs 61 in the ends of the bosses 60. By adjusting the screws 63 the friction be-. tween the plates 59 and thefriction mem ber 58 on the lever 51 can readily be varied. lVhen the parts are in the position shown in Figure 2, the Vblock 51 has been brought to a position under the blank at station A. r s the cam 49 is rotated, the lever 46 will be depressed and duringthe first part of 'the travel will move the lever -12 with relation to the lever 51, the lever 51 being held by the friction plates 59. This movement of the two levers relative to each other will elevate the V block 54 and lift the blank at the station A from its support, see F igure 7. The further movement of the lever 46 will bring the transfer mechanism to the position shown in Figure 8 in which the vial blank is above the blank support at the station B. The roller on the lever 4-6 is now at the high point of the groove 50 in the cam -19 and immediately thereafter the lever 1-6 will be raised to reverse the movement of the parts. During the first raising movement of the lever 16, the lever -12 will be moved withrelation to the lever 51, and during this relative movement of these two levers the V block 51 will be lowered and will deposit the blank on the blank support at station B, and at the same time the roller 56 will travel to the reverse side of the slot 57' as shown in Figure 9. A furprevent '65 are reciproc'ated toward ther movement of the lever 46 will return the transfer mechanism to the position shown in Figure 2.

The centering mechanism at station C may comprise shiftable rods 65, one on each side of the machine, arranged to reciprocate in hearings in brackets 66 on the frame of the machine, and adapted to be reciprocated by levers 67 which are in turn actuated by cams 68 on the shafts 25 and 25. As the centering mechanism is identical with similar mechanism at the finishing station with the exception of the shape of the groove in the cams 68, a detailed description of this mechanism will be given in connection with the bottoming mechanism, it being deemed suflicient at this time to state that when the rods one another they engage the opposite ends of the vial blank to properly position the same on its support.

At the finishing station E there are provided reciprocable rods 69 similar to the rods 65.at the centering station before referred to. As the rods'on opposite sides of the machine are duplicates of each other, we will, for sake of clearness, only escribe the connections and operation of one of said rods. This rod 69 is adjustably mounted in a bushing 70, connected to which is a yoke 71 which is arranged to be adjusted along the length thereof between the bearings 72 on the bracket 73. The yoke 71 is connected to'one end of a lever 74 by means of a link 75. The other end of this lever 7% is pivotally connected to a bracket 76 carried by the frame of the machine. Extending laterally from one side of the lever 74 is a roller 77 which is seated in a groove 7 8 in a cam 7 9. At one side of the machine, the cam 7 9 is splined to the shaft 25, while at the other side the corresponding cam is carried by the similar shaft 25 The end of each of the rods 69 adjacent the center of the machine is bored out for the reception of a spindle 80 on a disk, 81. eurrounding the spindle 80 and interposed between the disk 81 and the end of the rod 69 is a ball bearing 82. A spring pressed plunger 83 in the rod 69, hearing against the end of the spindle 80, holds the disk 81 1n extended position, and forms a resilient stop when the disk 81 engages the bottle or vial as hereinafter described, to breaking and accommodate slightly varying blank lengths.

Mounted on each side of the machine at the finishing station E is a retracting device each of which is carried by a bracket 8 1 on the frame of the machine. Each of these retracting devices, and for sake of clearness only one will be described, comprises a friction roller 85 which is journaled crank 86 having a pivotal connection 87 to the bracket 84. Secured to the friction roller 85 is'a worm wheel 88 which is engaged by a worm 89 journaled in a bearing on the bell spring 102 friction rollers 85 are then on a belly crank 86. This worm 89 is flexibly connected to the shaft of a bevel gear 90 by means of a universal connection 91. The shaft of the bevel gear 90 is journaled in a bearing on the bracket 81, and rotatably mounted in a second bearing in this bracket and at right angles thereto is a vertical shaft carrying a bevel gear 92, meshing with thebevel gear 90. The other end of this shaft is preferably provided with a worm wheel 93, which engages either the worm shaft or 15 according to the side of the machine, so that the friction roller 85 is continuously rotated, and is arranged when moved into contact with a vial blank to move the vial blank endwise toward and against the disk 81 on the end of the rod 69. Connected to one arm of the bell crank 86 and a similar arm of a bell crank 91 is a link 95, the length of which can readily be adjusted by a suitable turn buckle or the like. The other arm of the bell crank 94; is provided with a roller 95 which engages the periphery of a cam 96, secured to one of the shafts or 25*. The roller on the bell crank 94: is held in contact with this cam by means of a spring 94' which is seated in a recess in the bracket 84 and engages one of the arms of the bell crank 94.

Slidably mounted in suitable guides 97 on the tracks 10 at the finishing station E (see Figure 4:) is a bottoming device 98, the upper end of which is provided with disks 99 which may be arranged to freely therein. The lower end of this bottoming device 98 is provided with a roller 100 in engagement with the periphery of a cam 101 connected to the shaft 21, and is arranged to be held against the cam by means of a (see Fig. 17 seated in a recess in the guide 97 and engaging a laterally extending arm 98 on the bottoming member 98.

In the operation of the machine, the shafts 3 and 4: are intermittently rotated, while all of .the other shafts together with the cams" connected thereto, are continuously rotated. The blanks are first transferred to a support at station E, and the carrier is then moved a step to bring the vial to the centering station C. The plungers or rods are then moved toward each other to center th blank with port and after the blank has been centered it is moved step by step to the different heating stations. \Vhen it has been moved to the bottoming station the rods 69 are moved toward each other by the cams 79 and the moved into contact with the blanks by the short high-points 96 onthe cams 96 its heated portion and move th neck ends thereof against the disks 81. At about this time the bottoming member wardly by its cam 101 and the friction rollers 85 are removed from the blanks, the rollrotate to separate the blank at,

relation to the sup- 7 98 is moved up 7 

